oh, no. also ahead, the latest from the war in ukraine where both sides are preparing for the next major battle among fears of a false-flag attack that could end up flooding 80 towns. plus, hospitals across the country have reported a surge in cases of a virus that's making infants severely ill. it's not covid, but covid has a big role in why the kids are getting so sick. we'll explain that just ahead. willie, our top story this morning. >> we begin in washington where

moments ago former trump adviser steve bannon arrived in a d.c. courthouse to hear his sentencing for contempt of congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the house select committee investigating january 6th. the justice department has asked the judge to sentence him to six months in prison and to fine him $200,000. bannon's lawyers argue he should get only probation. they also have asked bannon be allowed to remain free until his lawyers are able to appeal the sentence. nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian is live outside the courthouse in washington. ken, good morning. what should we expect here today? >> reporter: good morning, willie. as you mentioned, we saw steve bannon come in, he was heckled by members of the crowd, he gave his usual sort of commentary about having -- wanting to defeat the biden regime. you may recall he said he was going to do that at his trial. didn't work out that way. took a jury about three hours to

convict him of these two counts of contempt of congress. and now he faces the music. as you mention, the justice department is really arguing to throw the book at steve bannon. they're arguing for the max here. in a new filing this morning, they take on directly this argument you need to get probation, saying that the law clearly states there's a mandatory minimum here of 30 years in jail. they also say this sentence should not be stayed pending appeal because they saban nonhas little success on appeal. but that is a real possibility that this judge will sentence bannon but stay that sentence and allow him to go free while he appeals, the question of whether he could have relied on defense of counsel defense. the justice department is calling for a $200,000 fine. that would be the max. they're doing that because steve bannon refused to provide any financial information to the probation office as part of the sentencing investigation as a normal defendant would.

even now he is flouting the will of the court, and today he faces justice. >> what's the best guess from experts? it's hard to read in on the tea leaves on sentencing sometimes, but what is the best estimate that people think he could spend time in jail, and if so, how much really might he spend? >> reporter: the law does appear to call for a minimum of 30 days in jail. that's being debated. the statute is a bit unclear. most people think there is a substantial likelihood of some kind of confinement here. if you talk to defense lawyers who practice in federal court, this is a relatively minor case. it's a misdemeanor. but then when you look at the larger context, look at the way the justice department framed it in their brief, they framed this as an assault on democracy and say that steve bannon thumbed his nose at not only the congress but the judicial system, so this is a bigger case than just a misdemeanor. it would also be one of the first times, probably the first

time in modern history that anyone will have been sentenced for having been convicted of contempt of congress. so there's a lot of symbolism here. this is bigger than the ordinary federal case, so that's why i wouldn't be surprising to see him get the six monts that the justice department is calling for. some lawyers suggested that the doj was a little soft and should have called for a judge to go beyond the guidelines because the ultimate maximum stringed together would be two years in prison, guys. >> we will find out shortly. nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian outside the courthouse in washington. ken, thanks so much. jonathan lemire, i'm thinking about some of the reporting in your book, "the big lie," that involves steve bannon, what we know about him at the willard hotel, what he said publicly on his podcast what was going to happen on january 6th about his discussion of the strategy, saying out loud what roger stone said out loud, declare victory no matter what happens and work backward from there. but it appears here, at least,

despite his claims he's fine becoming a martyr, he's in some trouble. >> he definitely is. bannon has said he wants to be a maga martyr, and it looks like he'll be getting his chance. of course his lawyers arguing against any actual prison time. we'll see how that plays out many the days ahead. to your larger point, he was up front with it on his podcast weeks before the election said, predicted correctly that trump would go out on election night no matter what the results were and say that he won. and he did of course we know, in the days that followed, started touting the conspiracy theories that trump then himself started taking on, and we know that no republican pressure, trump didn't concede, and contested the election, and we have riots on january 6th. now, of course, willie, this is still in the bloodstream of our politics today. bannon is still saying the same things on his podcast every day. we have election deniers up and down the ballot in key race, key

offices on both the federal and state level. and for the first time in many, many decades, there are a lot of americans out there fearful not only that they may have trouble voting and maybe not be counted and a winner may not be installed. we're in a new place for our democracy right now. >> a lot of these elections are very close-run things if you look at the polls. we'll see if the losers of elections concede defeat or continue in the tradition of donald trump. while we wait for the sentencing on steve bannon, more prosecutions continue around january 6th. the 20-year-old former air force recruit who used chemical spray on police officers during the january 6th capitol riot in the attack there was jailed yesterday after pleading guilty to several charges including felony counts of assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon. aiden billiard admitted to illegally entering the capitol through windows he smashed with a baseball bat. after that, he returned to his air force base. a judge ordered him be detained

until his sentencing in february calling his behavior outrageous and telling him, "you make your bed, you have to lie in it." he was in basic training when the fbi interviewed him last year. the race is on to find the next british prime minister. the ruling conservative party says by the end of next friday its members will have voted on a replacement for liz truss, who announced her resignation yesterday after a tumultuous six weeks in office. nbc's holly hunter has the very latest. >> reporter: this morning, the uk is searching for yet another new prime minister. >> i am resigning as leader of the conservative party. >> reporter: after just 45 days on the job, liz truss is out, now the shortest-serving prime minister in british history. on wednesday, she tried to hang on. >> i am a fighter. i'm not a quitter. >> reporter: but yesterday, it became clear she no longered

that support of her own conservative party. >> i cannot deliver the mandate on which i was elected by the conservative party. >> reporter: appointed by the queen just two days before her death, the two seen here in queen elizabeth's final public appearance, taking over from the embattled former prime minister boris johnson, who now may be eyeing a comeback, and truss is now resigning under a king whom he met only days ago. >> good to see you again. it's great pleasure. >> reporter: her very brief stint at downing street kay ottawa fricke the start, immediately proposing a new budget, sweeping tax cuts, favoring the wealthiest brits. the plan spooking the markets, tanking the british pound, spiking mortgage rates, inflation rising even more quickly than in the u.s., now over 10%, and truss just couldn't restore confidence. this meme taking over the internet, the challenge from a tabloid here, which will last longer, this head of iceberg

lettuce or liz truss? there was even a lettuce live stream, and last night it was projected on the walls of parliament, the victorious held of lettuce. but across the pond, president biden reacting to the turmoil for america's most important ally. >> the british are going to solve their problems. she was a good partner. >> reporter: the next prime minister, the third just this year, inherits a frustrated country. >> i've seen the effect of conservativism first hand. it is incredibly unattainable. >> total chaos. >> just this sense of just a complete mess. we've just become a laughingstock. >> reporter: and while calming markets and restoring stability on a global stage will be a stability, the british people are more worried about high prices and heating their homes this winter. >> all right. nbc's molly hunt we are that report. joining us now, u.s. national editor at the "financial times" ed luce. i'd love your reaction to what has happened in the past 24 hours and a sense of what the

possibilities are moving forward as to who might replace liz truss and would there be a general election. >> general election is looking still unlikely. i mean, there ought to be one if the british people were given a say, there would be a general election, but the reason why i don't think there's going to be is that the conservative party is polling as low as 14%. 14%. so fewer than 1 in 7 people now say they would vote for this party. i think instead what we're going to get is boris johnson returning to 10 downing street. the bookies now make him the favorite in the conservative party leadership contest. it's an extraordinary situation, and i sort of hate to use uncouth language, but it's like a dog returning to its vomit. sorry. i know that's not an image -- that's something you now can't unsee. i apologize. >> yeah.

>> but i'm straining for the language to describe the absurdity of the situation where the author of this mess that britain is in, this laughingstock as one of the people quoted in your report just now called britain, that the author of these miseries and this charade, these sa nan gans, would be the solution it to as well according to the conservative party. i'm sorry to say, but boris johnson looks like now he's favored to win the leadership contest in the next week. >> and we just showed the other possibilities. why not them? when you describe it the way you just did, why are the odds for boris johnson? >> because he's the only one amongst them who's won an election and is therefore -- can claim a mandate from the british electorate, but he's also the

best known. he can entertain people. he can distract them. he's got, you know, a personality that's larger than life. they are forgetting, though, that he was driven from office in july because at that point he was the most unpopular prime minister in british history, since polling records began. now, he's since been overtaken in that dubious -- those dubious stakes by liz truss. she's now the most unpopular prime minister within just 44 days of her short tenure in british history. but to go back to the second most unpopular would hardly seem like a dramatic turnaround. it is possible that richie sunak could win as well, the leadership, but not saying it's dead certain boris will win, but the bookies that take money on this are now making boris

favorite. >> ed, we just put up a graphic showing the contenders as well. one of those, ben wallace, the defense minister, has come out in support of boris johnson. just moments ago he said he's leaning toward supporting boris johnson and the torry leadership race. perhaps you can take ben wallace soon off of that graphic in support of boris johnson. and can you speak to, for our american viewers, just how narrow these votes are? for example, joe biden had to win 81 million votes to become president of the united states. liz truss earned 81,000 votes within her own party to become prime minister of the uk. so how does this work exactly? >> yeah. i mean, the number of people who elected liz truss could have been fit into wembley stadium, the soccer stadium. so they're going the now do an accelerated version of the long, agonizing summer that we'll wait through with the previous leadership contest. they'll decide by next friday. there's only going to be three

names that are allowed onto the first ballot, and then one will be eliminated, and then by friday i think this time next week, they will come out with the winner. >> so, but this is a conservative party, members of parliament, with an online input from members of the party in the country. there are only 180,000 or so in the country. so, you know, whether it's going to come -- we keep asking the same question and expecting a different answer, that's einstein's definition of insanity. this is, whatever the outcome, not going to solve britain's financial crisis, its economic harsh winter that we know is coming, and i would doubt very much that whoever does replace liz truss is going to have much more of a life expectancy in that job, a shelf life, in that job than liz truss had.

remember, liz truss' premiership was shorter than the life of a fruit fly. it was half the length of the marge between kim kardashian and kris humphries. that gives you a sense of just what a weird pantomime british politics has entered. >> and she did manage to meet two monarchs, though, the first prime minister who could say that in quite some time. you started going where i wanted to take you here, the challenges of the next prime minister will face, no matter he or she, or boris johnson, may have to grapple with, the economics, the winter, and also, tell us about -- we know in the states thanks to kevin mccarthy there's a real debate about whether the funding for ukraine will continue, will be jeopardized in the united states. as the uk, which has been a staunt reporter to this point, barrels into an inflation crisis, a cost of living crisis, a tough winter, is there any chance that the uk's calculation about helping ukraine could change? >> oddly, i think that's one

area where you can pretty much rely on continuity. you mentioned -- willie mentioned ben wallace just now, the defense secretary. you know, while the house has been shuffling seats in the game of musical chairs, ben wallace is stuck in his job and has been treated, you know, by his counterparts in nato and here at the pentagon, you know, as a very serious partner who's got a very hawkish and consistent message. and nobody in the leadership contest is sounding like, you know, that's sort of weighing of the republican party at the moment. i don't see that as being in jeopardy. i think everyone else is. i don't think the pound the going to vote. they have a vote of confidence in the next leader, whoever that is. i don't think that energy prices and energy inflation, which is really going to hit british households this week, is going

to be solved by whoever the next leader is. and i don't think anything is going to change the inevitability of a labor victory and probably a sort of labor -- probably a landslide, sort of canadian conservative party wipeout. the only question is when that will happen. will it be soon? or will the country have to wait the full two years? >> very grim, and i'm stuck on the dog vomit that -- thank you. >> sorry. >> the "financial times'" ed luce. thank you, i think. have a great weekend. coming up, "the washington post's" david ignatius joins us with a closer look at china and president xi jinping's recent ominous warning of what's to come. plus, jonathan capehart will be our guest on his exclusive interview with president biden. also ahead, in the tradition of ross perot and ralph nader,

we'll take a look at the crop of third-party candidates running in these midterm elections who could play a major role in swinging the results. but first, willie, you us a preview earlier, but tell us who you have on "sunday today." >> my guest this sunday on nbc is oscar winner eddie redmayne. you know him from "les miserables", "the fantastic piece," and now "the good nurse," a stunning true story that people don't know about, a nurse turned serial killer. he stars with jessica chastain. really smart and thoughtful and a funny guy, great conversation. the academy award winning eddie redmayne on "sunday today."

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23 past the hour. with the midterms less than three weeks away, there is new focus on the influence of libertarians and third-party candidates. for example, in georgia's tightly contested senate race between democratic senator raphael warnock and republican challenger herschel walker. there's another player in the mix who could influence which party takes control of the senate. new reporting suggests that if third-party libertarian candidate chase oliver gathers even a percentage point or two, it may deny warnock or walker the 50% threshold required by state law to avoid a runoff vote. >> i want the voters to know that they do have a third choice in this election, and i'm

somebody who is very proud to be representing the people of the state of this -- the state of georgia. i liken the two-party system to pro wrestling, like having two people in a ring pretending to fight each other and get fund-raising up, then they go backstage and laugh about how much money they earned and the attention. i'm not here to fight a wrestling match. i'm here to fight for the people in georgia. i owe no allegiance to either party. i only owe allegiance to you, the voter. >> other outside candidates in key states like arizona, nevada, and pennsylvania are emerging as wild cards with polls indicating they have nowhere near enough support to win but more than enough to influence results in tight races that can make or break president biden's agenda for the next two years. joining us now with new reporting on this, nbc news senior national political reporter sahil kapur. sahil, what have you got? >> reporter: mika, it's a familiar dynamic we've seen

before, but it burns a little bright they are time around because the battle for senate control is so tight in a 50/50 senate. the way these races are going, any one of these states could provide the crucial 50th vote for democrats to hold the senate majority or the crucial 51st vote for republicans to capture it. you just mentionedoliver is an figure because georgia has a unique rule where one of the major party candidates has to cross 50% onto avoid a runoff. he won't win but if he gets a point or two or three, that could prevent either raphael warnock or herschel walker from getting that 50% and force a runoff on december 6th. in arizona, you have a libertarian candidate markovic or the, who was on a debate stage with the two major candidates and he seemed to take particular aim on numerous occasions that the republican challenger, blake master, many republican pollsters believe he's more likely to siphon votes away from masters, helping the

democratic incumbent mark kelly there. in nevada, a unique situation with the two major candidates and three lesser-known independent candidates also in addition to this none of the above option. nevada has that unique option where voters can simply decide to support none of the candidates. that alone could be decisive in a race that is so close between catherine cortez masto anded a a.m. blacksalts. in pennsylvania, john fetterman and mehmet oz, yesterday there was a poll that showed that dead even and the libertarian on the ballot, eric gearhart, i believe is his name, 2%. that could be decisive. you add this up and you have a dynamic where the lesser-known candidates could make a small splash with huge consequences. the one exception to this phenomenon is in utah, a rare independent candidate who has a shot at winning, an outside shot, but that's because democrats didn't put up a candidate and decide to throw

their support to the conservative candidate, evan mcmullin, who is challenging mike lee. >> good point in utah. he has both republicans and democrats supporting him in that state. but talk to us about how the third-party candidate phenomenon may impact the statehouses in the country or races for governor. in fact, president biden had to campaign. there's a third-party candidate too. tell us what that looks like and if there are others we should be looking at. we know governors' races, lar particularly in the age of election denying and jobs, very important jobs. >> in the statehouses around the country, a narrow margin decided the races. statehouses could be crucial because some conservatives are advancing the theory of the independent state legislature, which some of you have certainly heard of, where state legislatures can decide on their own who wins the presidential election regardless of how they

vote. that's the kind of situation where, you know, third party candidates could have an impact. we're seeing it in oregon, where the presence of a third-party candidate could flip that governor's race to the republican candidate, a republican in that state not winning in many, many years. libertarians could have a significant impact on the 2022 election cycle for reasons not, you know, that they hoped or expected. i did put this question, you know, the question of them being accused of playing spoilers, to the chair of the libertarian national committee chair. here's what she said. her response was this is not our problem to deal with. she says republicans fear libertarians will play spoilers, republicans need to run more libertarian-minded candidates. defended oliver and victor and said they performed well and earned the votes they received. it's a phenomenon where given the disenchantment with the two-party system, they certainly

have a pac to getting a small number of votes, even though there is a thing like negative partisanship, people vote to keep one out, but even a small point or two can make all the difference. >> sahil, just quickly, what more do you know about the doj running out of money for the 1/6 investigation and whether or not they'll get it? >> reporter: the justice department, mika, has requested $34 million. it says it's critically needed to continue the january 6th criminal investigation to avoid draining resources from prosecutors' offices all over the country, to avoid having to make difficult decisions about whether to continue the january 6th probe or to pursue other law enforcement. all eyes here on this december 16th government funding bill because that's seen as the last best shot, maybe the only shot to get this funding, and senior appropriators i've talked to in both parties told me in the last few weeks it's unclear this money will be there, not because there's strong opposition to it necessarily, but because that

justice request hasn't broken through. some aproposal ray or thes said they hadn't heard about the request and were surprised that i mentioned that justice is arguing it's poised to face a cash crunch when it comes to the january 6th probe. it's a high-stakes question. the reason they believe this is so important is if republicans capture control of the house of representatives in january, the chamber is going to be run likely by kevin mccarthy, a staunch trump ally, who's not been sympathetic to the january 6th investigation, voted against the house select committee. he has compared the violence in this building on january 6th to the violence, you know, that erupted in george floyd's protests in the summer of 2020. it's very different dynamic next year if republicans capture control. >> it sure is. nbc's sahil kapur, thank you very much. covering a lot of ground for us this morning. up next, the latest out of ukraine, where the entire country is on the verge of losing power and heat as winter looms.

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35 past the hour. both russian and ukrainian troops are preparing for what could be a major battle in the war for the strategic southern

city of kherson, which is located within the illegally annexed region of the same name. those preparations following massive evacuation efforts led by russian forces who have moved thousands of ukrainian civilians away from their homes in kherson as russia's assault in the region continues. at the same time, ukraine now faces a serious power shortage after russian drones and missiles bombarded its energy infrastructure. nbc news correspondent cal perry has the latest. >> reporter: overnight, new strikes into ukraine, moscow launching fresh attacks in zaporizhzhia and kharkiv. after ten days of steady bombardment, ukraine's energy infrastructure is literally being blown apart. more than 154 missiles and 176 drones fired by russia into ukraine in just ten days according to the military. the impact of putin's deadly

drone strikes are still unfolding. in in m places across this country, people have lost everything, and it's getting cold. "there could be no gas left," she says, "no light. then we will heat up the wood burning stove, get warm, and make some food. everything will be fine." speaking to the european counselor, volodymyr zelenskiy said russian cruise missiles and iranian drone attacks have destroyed more than a third of the energy infrastructure. because of this, he says, unfortunately we can no longer export electricity to help maintain stability. zelenskyy also warning russia could next be targeting a critical hydroelectric dam in an effort to stop advaning ukrainian forces. destroying the dam he said would mean a large-scale disaster. such a terror attack on the plant would mean exactly the same as the use of weapons of mass destruction. just over the border, vladimir

putin wants russia to know he's running this war. in a rare visit to a base outside moscow aired on russian state television, putin seen firing a sniper rifle and visiting troops, a strong show of force from the russian president as his offensive shows no signs of letting up. >> nbc's cal perry with that report. joining us now, columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius. david, my first thoughts are to the looming winter, given the damage that has been done to ukraine, and also the iran factor. what are your thoughts? >> so, mika, first i think you're exactly right, russia is conducting a quite brutal campaign against ukrainian civilians, civilian infrastructure that would keep them warm through the winter. the idea is to wear down the ukrainians, break their will, break their willingness to continue to fight russia's illegal invasion.

ukrainians are doing everything they can on the battlefront as opposed to these cities under attack, to continue their offensive to the south. they're very near to taking kherson, the key city, the gateway to the black sea, strategically very important for ukraine. russia is responding by transporting the ukrainian population in the city, goodness knows where. the russians have a history of transporting whole populations to places that they think are more convenient. and then this threat to blow a hydroelectric dam, flood the region to prevent ukraine from capturing strategic territories, still you'd say that on the battlefield ukraine continues to steady gains as we head toward winter. people say that sometime in mid-november the ground becomes frozen, impassable, so both sides are trying to advance in preparation for that.

so, on the battlefield i'd say the ukrainians are doing well. in this campaign to break the civilian population, the ability to get through the winter, the russians are being so aggressive. i was just in kyiv a little under two weeks ago. i didn't hear a single ukrainian who was in a mood to compromise. the thing about this kind of brutal strategic bombing is it only hardens the will of a population to resist, and i think that's what we're seeing. but, mika, it's a particularly nasty period in this war as both sides go for maximum leverage before the start of winter. >> david, this war obviously going terribly for putin's army, but his bet all along is that time might be on his side, they can outlast the ukrainian and russian resolve. it seems like he may have a few glitters of hope in that regard. kevin mccarthy this week suggested a blank check would end to ukraine if republicans

took control of the house. we are seeing a far-right government come to power in italy very soon, where there's putin sympathizers in that party, more chaos in the uk, although at least to this point they seem committed to ukraine. give us your assessment here as not just ukraine but the rest of europe is about to embark on a cold, dark winter. do you think we come through it on the other side with the resolve of the alliance intact as it is now? >> john, the worries are all there, no question about it. i just came from a wreak breakfast with a french foreign minister. it was off the record so i shouldn't go into details of what she had to say, but my sense generally is that the europeans have steadied up in terms of understanding the importance of supporting ukraine. they see strong u.s. commitment still, despite kevin mccarthy's comments, to supply weapons and the other things that ukraine needs, and they're on board.

they're providing their share, less than the united states, but still significant commitments. they understand that this battle is one that's going to affect the future of europe politically, strategically, for rest of their lives as politicians, so they take it seriously. so the simple answer is i don't see cracks right now in the transatlantic resolve to get through the winter. as we get into 2023, putin clearly is preparing for that next round of the battle after the cold winter, what next, that's when i think you need to begin to worry about the staying power of the west if the republicans control the house, kevin mccarthy has told us, no blank check. so that's going to be a different world. but for the moment over the next few months getting through the winter, i see resolve rather than crumbling of resolve. >> david, let's turn now to china and a new report in the

"wall street journal" that breaks down how the superpower is catching up to the united states militarily. it highlights how china's army now has a hypersonic missile that evades most defenses, how its attack drones can swarm to paralyze communications networks, and how its naval ships outnumber those in the u.s. navy. china's defense budget is now second only to the united states, where its military has roughly 600,000 more troops. david, in your latest column for "the washington post," you analyze the major speech that xi jinping delivered on sunday to the chinese communist party, one that you say was an ominous warning of what's to come. it reads in part, "outside the echo chamber of chinese propaganda, there is growing evidence that xi jinping is making mistakes. china's economic growth is slowing, but xi offer nod

apologies for china's recent course. if xi has been moving in the wrong direction in recent years, as many chinese and foreign analysts believe, he is now promising to run even faster in that direction in the future. xi spoke like a modern-day emperor he's now become. wz 'read his strident work report, we should remember that its author will be the most powerful chinese leader in history, whose response to china's sagging economy and international isolation is full speed ahead." so, david, tell us more about this. doesn't sound more like a warning. it sounds like a threat. >> well, it's concerning, no question about it. the strange thing about what's happening in china, mika, is that the last several years have not been good for xi jinping by any measure. the chinese economy is slowing from a level of growth that it

experienced in its boom years above 5% to barely 3%, and some people think even less than 3% this year. this weak stock to the release of third quarter gdp statistics, people think it's because they weren't going to come in very well and would distract from xi's coronation in effect in china as the party's leader for the next five years. he's made mistakes in isolating china. countries that used to be on the fence in europe now are much more strongly supportive of the u.s. view that we're in a fundamental competition with china. he's been demoralizing the chinese business elite, which has done such extraordinary things in the technology sector, but he's made them seem like enemies of his state. he called the internet sector being out of control in his speech.

in all these ways, xi has been making enemies, has been causing problems pop. you'd think there might be some course correction. some expected that. didn't happen. instead the opposite, really doubling down, he was attacking his critics within the party with some very strident language. he was calling his zero-covid policy, which people have said is absolutely stifling the chinese economy, he said it was an all-out people's war against disease. strange language to use. >> yeah. >> so it's strange, mika, that somebody who's been seen internationally as heading in the wrong direction, as i said in the piece, is moving even more quickly in that direction. >> yeah. columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius, thank you very much. say hi to your dad. >> thanks. up next, a respiratory

illness is sending kids to the hospital at record rates. we'll have the latest. plus, a number of democratic candidates running in tight midterm races haven't been eager to appear on the campaign trail with president biden. biden was asked about that yesterday. we'll play for you his blunt reaction. we're back in just a moment. okas complete balanced nutrition. together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein. they say you eat with your eyes first, so here's a good look at our new thick n fluffy french toast. artisan challah dipped in vanilla cinnamon batter. french toast the way it's meant to be. try all three flavors. only at ihop. download the app and earn free food with every purchase.

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there haven't been that many candidates campaigning with you. >> that's not through. there have been 15. count. >> are there going to be even more? >> yeah. >> should there be any restrictions on abortion at all? >> yes, there should be. >> roe v. wade. read it, man, you'll get educated. >> you know, he's got to deal with those questions and some of them are dumb. fired up president biden responding to reporters yesterday before his campaign stop in pennsylvania. the president first stopped in pittsburgh to taut progress on

improving infrastructure. he then traveled to philadelphia attending a fund-raiser with the state's democratic nominee for senate, lieutenant governor john fetterman. there were no cameras at that event but there will be cameras today when the president speaks with washington post associate editor and pulitzer prize winning journalist jonathan capehart. jonathan joins us ahead of the interview. he's also host of the sunday show right here on msnbc. so what are you looking for today? what are you hoping to ask the

president? >> reporter: thanks a lot, mika. i'm traveling with the president. he's going to talk about college affordability. we're going to talk about the threats to our democracy. of course we're going to ask him about abortion. good luck with you interview later. our best to the president. >> we're looking at polls for the mid-terms, everything you listed there matters. voters care about abortion rights. they care about threats to the democracy but the economy is first and foremost. it's inflation, it's in gas prices. as we know, there's only so much a president, any president can do about that. the party in power tends to get the blame. what do you hope to hear from him? what are those topic lines on those economic issues so important to voters this november? >> reporter: you think i'm going to let the president know specifically what i'm going to ask him? >> not word for word. >> reporter: look, the problem

for the administration is it has a lot of good things that it can taut and yet none of those good things get through because people are so angry and worried about inflation and rising prices, particularly gas prices. and so what i'm hoping to hear from the president is how are you going to break through? wages are up, unemployment is down and people are saying to pollsters time and time again, when it comes to the economy, we trust republicans over democrats and so that i think is the big challenge for the president and for democrats up and down the ballot. >> jonathan capehart, best of luck. thank you very much. you can watch jonathan's exclusive interview with president biden tonight at 7 eastern on "the reid out" with joy reid and then on sunday catchall of it, jonathan and president biden's conversation on the sunday show with jonathan

capehart sundays at 10 eastern right here on msnbc. finally this hour, a concerning medical story to tell you about. cases of respiratory illness, rsv, are quickly rising across the country with some pediatric wards nearing capacity as children are hospitalized. nbc news national correspondent gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: this morning doctors and nurses nationwide sounding the alarm over an unprecedented rise in respiratory illnesses among young children. nearly 75% of the country's estimated 40,000 pediatric hospital beds are now full. connecticut children's hospital in hartford is in touch with fema and the national guard about putting up a medical tent in its parking lot. other hospitals are also stretched thin. >> the majority of the children are coming in pretty sick. they're requiring higher levels of oxygen than they would normally require. >> rsc usually causes mild

cold-like symptoms. infants and older adults may develop severe infection. at yale new haven children's hospital there are now more than 100 rsv cases in the emergency department. that's nearly double from just a week ago. have you ever seen numbers like this before? >> definitely not as high as we've been seeing them now and i would also say from over the years, just like the acuity and how sick the kids are, it's much higher than it's been ever in the past. >> reporter: doctors say this may be the result of young kids having relatively little exposure to other viruses during several years of covid. >> a lot of kids haven't seen rsv and they're seeing it for the first time all at once and it's leading to a big strain on our hospital resources. >> it was a big struggle for him to get a breath of air. >> reporter: his diagnosis, rsv. >> if you've seen a child in that kind of distress with that

labored breathing, it's the most terrifying thing as a parent because you're completely helpless. >> all right. we'll be following this. that's nbc's gabe gutierrez with that report. that does it for us this morning. who he zay diaz-balart picks up msnbc's coverage after a quick, final break.

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